RAG DOLLS


3/18/11 Section 1 p. 1-12
In this section of the book Henry is introducing his life to us. He was eleven years old when this war talk all started taking place. Henry and all of his friends loved playing soccer at the camp that they stayed at, Ciechanuw. The lorry driver had came and picked them up and immediately taken the kids away and brought them to Plock, Germany. They had to meet up with their parents at Plock because they wanted to make sure that the kids were safe from the war. Once they got there, there was a lot of talk about was going to go in and all the safety things they would have to put in so that they were safe. Henry was very confused at first, but after the first bombs were dropped and they had to move again, it all started to make sense to him.

Penchant- a strong liking for something or tendency to do something
Disposition- a person's inheret qualities of mind and character
Lorry- a heavy motor vehicle for transporting goods or troops
Imminent- about to happen
Fretting- being constantly nervous or anxious


3/19/11 Section 2 p.13-24
Henry is starting to realize the seriousness of war. Everyone had left Plock and set out for Gombin. It was a very long walk and Henry was getting so tired. He slept on dead people and didn't even know until he woke up the next morning! They ended up staying in a barn on a farmer's property, and the war had started. There was gunshots and bombs everywhere. Henry, his family, their friends, and the farmers family were so hungry and scared. Henry's family went back to Plock, but Henry's dad and brother left to see if they could go live over on Russia. They couldn't, and life was getting worse in Plock. Henry's dad had been beaten by a German and Henry had to watch the whole thing.

Momento- and object or item that serves to remind one of a person, past event, etc.
Pensive- expressing or revealing
Deprivation- to remove or with hold something from the enjoyment or possession of
Disembarked- to leave an aircraft or other vehicle
Capitulated- to give up resistance


3/21/11 Section 3 p. 25-36
Henry's life is better compared to others, at least for a little bit. Henry would get by going to German stored until one day he got caught while buying milk. He had been beaten and was told to go to the German's the next morning. Henry didn't, and he didn't get caught! One night there was SS soldiers everywhere and all the Jews were sent on an overloaded truck. The SS soldiers didn't care about anyone and even beat a pregnant women in the stomach! They had all been shipped of to Djaldove, a concentration camp. A few days later a train came and they all had to leave.
Edicts- a official order or proclamation issued by a person in authority

Insignia- a badge or distinguishing mark
Drivel- talking nonsense
Indignant- showing anger or annoyance as what is perceived as unfair treatment
Groggy- weak or unsteady
Brassiere- full form of bra

3/21/11 Section 4 p. 37-48
After they were sent out on a train they went to Chmeilnik. It was a little better there, but not much. Henry got a job away from his family and became lonely, so he came back. His parents weren't doing good. His mom was getting very skinny and his dad was dying from being beaten. After a very hard decision, Henry went back and worked fro a different farmer and it was so much better than the last one! Soon to find out from his brother that his dad had died and was already buried without any of them getting to see him.

Chaff- worthless things
Communal- shared by all members of a community
Primitive- relating to
Asset- a useful thing, person, or qualitiy
Typhoid- an infectious bacterial fever with an eruption of red spots on your body

4/6/11 Section 5 p. 49-60
Life is getting very hard for Henry and his family. His mother is getting very ill and weak. Henry decides to go home to his mother and the farmer gives him a sack of potatoes to bring home to his mother. It wasn't long that he was with her before he got sent somewhere else. Their had been a report that all teenagers had to report to a area. None of the kids knew what was going on, but of course they had to go. They all get piled on trucks and taken away, not being able to say goodbye to their loved ones, and not knowing where they were going. They had been sent to a concentration camp, Skarzysko-Kamenia. Their, he met with one of his older brothers friends who had been there a while and had gotten him some food. They had to work while they were there and Henry was in charge of pushing felt into steel plates. He had fortunately got one of the easiest jobs of them all.

Twofold- having two parts or elements
Milling- a piece of manufacturing machinery
Speculated- form a theory or conjecture about a subject without firm evidence
Sentry- a soldier stationed to keep guard or to control access to a place
Wielding- have and able to use power and weapons

4/10/11 Section 6 p. 61-72
This concentration camp is very hard for Henry. He is having a very hard time surviving. He got so desperate that he stole leather belts from the factory and sold it to a shoemaker for bread. He had chickened out after a little while after he had found out that somebody else was also stealing belts. He found out it was a girl and went up and talked to her. The girl had gotten caught and was sent to the Chief German and was beaten there. The girl had told the chief that Henry had also stolen and Henry had been beaten horribly. He got slapped over and over again, kicked horribly, lifted by his shirt, and many other things. Henry was so sore that he could barely move. Fortunate for Henry, the Germans had given him a new uniform. The same person who had given him his new uniform had taken girls into the "Music Room" and beat them until they could no longer stand up and they were almost bleeding to death. The beating was so horrible that they got sent into the forest and got shot because they were in to bad of condition to live any longer.
Delouse- to rid of lice as a sanitary measure
Muster- to come together
Camaraderie- a trust existing between friends
Reluctantly- struggling in opposition
Menacingly- something that threatens to cause evil
4/11/11 Section 7 p. 73-85
Henry's life is miserable! He is such a strong person that he makes the top lady mad that she constantly wants to beat him. She took him into a room and beat him until he couldn't stand up anymore and had blood running down his face! There came a point where there wasn't anymore work for Henry's job to do so he got moved to Laidil's worplace. There he had to polish bullets. Later in the week Henry finds out that his mother and brother had been sent to Treblinka and killed. So he no longer had any family that he could rely on or talk to. He didn't have any more friends that were living and his brother's friend had turned against in the end and had started to beat him. Now Henry feels like there is no longer life for him any more in this concentration camp.

Indignation- strong displeasure at something
Quota- a proportional part or share of a fixed total amount or quantity
Sadistic- extreme cruelty
Contrary- opposite in nature or character
Wielding- to exercise in ruling or dominating

4/13/11 Section 8 p. 85-96
Oh my goodness! Henry's life is so scary and painful! He is constantly getting beat. He got horribly beat just because he couldn't get a wheelbarrow up a hill when he was only thirteen years old! Henry got so sick and his ankle was so horrible that he had to go to "the hospital", and that's where everyone died if they weren't taken to the forest. Also, Henry had gone to the bathroom during the night in a blackout, and that wasn't allowed. Freakishly, Henry ran into the butt of a rifle. Scary! Henry was so fortunate that he got out of both of them when he would have died! It's amazing! Later, he got sent to "Camp A" where it would be a new work place, but since they didn't want to freak out the people they just told them that they were going there when they were on there way to die...

Riddled- a puzzling question
Fester- a very bad sore
Nonchalantly- coolly unconcerned
Benevolent- characterized by or expressing goodwill or kindly feelings
Slaughter- to kill or butcher

4/15/11 Section 9 p. 97-108
I couldn't even imagine living in Henry's life. Now that they got sent to this new camp they all got different jobs. Henry's is lifting very heavy bullets in a box. One of the commanders realized that he is having a very hard time with this and how skinny he is. Why would a Nazi do this? The commander ended up taking Henry and giving him a full can of soup and sent him to and easier job. From there, he got the best treatment of them all. He was going through the soup line and the man who was handing it out was very crabby and was burning everyone's hands so they would drop their soup and then wouldn't give them another can. Once the commander who gave Henry's soup saw this, he called the man over, slapped him in the face very hard, and said to give Henry soup and if he ever hurt Henry again he would kill him. Wow! Did Henry get lucky or what? Later in the week, eight men had been hanged because they tried to escape. It was very weird after that. The Germans called all of them out and split them into two groups, a walking group and a train group. When they went and called Henry's name he went and escaped in the back to the hospital and layed on dead bodies just so that he could have a slight chance of living.

Spigot- a peg or plug for stopping the passage of liquid in a faucet
Briskly- quick and active
Clod- a stupid person
Benevolent- intended for benefits rather than profit
Merely- only as specified and nothing more

4/18/11 Section 10 p. 109- 122
Henry is still laying on dead bodies trying to stay alive. He wanted to try and escape, but a gaurd came and fell asleep and Henry couldn't go anywhere. Henry ended up going back to the barracks and all those who were left were sent to Camp C. There they got treated better and Henry had to go work in a steel mill which wasn't to hard considering him and three other boys just had to keep filling a oven with coal. Not to hard right? Later on, he and a friend found out that there was a boxcar filled with potatoes and they went and got some, but Henry got caught. He was taken and beaten, but he still took a couple of potatoes. A couple of days later, everyone was scurrying from the camp and the German's were very afraid. What was going on Henry thought?

Provocation- something that incites, instigates, angers, or irritates
Commemoration- a service, celebration, etc., in memory of some person or event
Obliged- to require or constrain, as by law, command, conscience, or force of necessity
Cynical- bitterly or sneeringly distrustful, contemptuous, or pessimistic
Tedious- long and tiresome

4/20/11 Section 11 p. 123-134
After the Germans are running away they are all put on a train not knowing where they are going. They were riding for three days without food and finally got where they were going. Once they got there the first thing they saw was a sign that said, WORK MAKES LIFE SWEET. Henry was very confused because he was obvioulsy working for the last four years and his life was far from sweet! They were put in their barracks and the next morning got assigned numbers. They always got number call and when someone was missing they would go find them and they would be sent to the dog pile where the dogs they Nazi's owned tore the prisoners up until they were dead. Henry was so disgusted that he actaully puked. The second time that Henry had to watch this he closed his ears to try to block out the horrid screaming from the man who was getting bit, but the man was in so much pain that it didn't matter. He still screamed very loud because of the pain. Once Henry heard the screaming stop he was dead. This scared Henry horribly.

Stifling- to quell, crush, or end by force
Trance- a dazed or bewildered condition
Submerge- to cover or overflow with water
Putrid- having the odor of decaying flesh
Liberate- to set free

4/22/11 Section 12 p. 135-146
Henry's name had been called one morning to be take outside with fifty other people. Once he got out there, he realized he was with the other people from Camp C. They were all loaded into three boxcars and sent on a long train ride to go and work at a different factory. They ended up being dropped off at Colditz. Henry's job there was to work in the kitchen peeling potatoes. Not to bad right? He and the other people he was working with would steal a couple of potatoes and later share them with eachother. This was very helpful for Henry! Later, the Americans had started bombing the Germans. This was a good thing except that Henry now got moved away from his kitchen job and had to go clean up the debris from the bombings. The Americans were frequently bombing that the Germans had to go to the town hall and stay in there with the Jews for a little bit, and the German women were not happy about that. Two days later the German commander had announced that the Americans had won and that all the Jewish people were free. Of course, the Jewish people believed them and were so excited about the war, including Henry. Henry soon caught on to what was going on and realized the Germans were going to do something. Sure enough, the next morning the Germans came in with their guns and told the Jewish people to get up and get out into the yard. They all needed to walk on foot for a very long time and only got a half of bread and that had to last them the whole trip. They didn't know how long the trip was going to be. They Russians stole bread from Jews and this trip was becoming more harmful then Henry thought.

Utopia- an ideal place or state
Provocation- something that incites, instigates, angers, or irritates
Sporadically- isolated, as a single instance of something
Latter- near or comparatively near to the end
Riddance- relief or deliverance from something

4/25/11 Section 13 p. 147-158
Henry has got it figured out now! He thinks if he asks a SS gaurd if he could carry his backpack he might get some food from him to possivly make it through this long and tough journey. Henry asks the gaurd and the gaurd lets him. Suprisingly, the man gave him a slice of bread and a slice of cheese! Henry was so happy! Their first destination was Dresden. Once they got there, they didn't stop and kept walking for five days until they got to Terezinstadt in Csechoslovakia. That was a fake place the Germans set up because the International Red Cross was always suspicious of the Germans. There they had a happy place for the Jews and made up this fake place to make it seem like the Jews had it easy. Although, once they got there, Henry and all the other people that were living from the walk, which weren't many, had to go in the basement and were locked in there for three days. After the fourth day they moved up to the second floor where they at least got to sleep on cots. Henry wondered what was going to happen to them from here. Would they end up dying here or would they make it through to be liberated?

Leery-suspicious
Atrocities- behaviour or an action that is wicked or ruthless
Veered- to change direction or turn about or aside
Deter- to discourage or restrain from acting or proceeding
Sham- something that is not what it purports to be

4/27/11 Section 14 p. 159- 170
Henry got up that morning, just like any other morning, and washed his face. There was something different going on that morning. A jeep had pulled in with Russians in the car. They announced that they were free! It was so amazing! They all ate as much as they could and some ended up dying from over eating. Henry went into an orphanage and later was transported to Europe.

Quarantine- a strict isolation imposed to prevent the spread of disease
Dysentery- diarrhea
Pessimist- a person who habitually sees or anticipates the worst or is disposed to be gloom
Hoisted- to raise or lift
Recipient- a person or thing that recieves

4/27/11 Section 15 Epiloque

Henry's in Poland now and he is planning on moving to America. He got married at eighteeen and soon moved to America with his wife and first son. He got a couple of jobs, and that moved him around the world. He ended up retiring in Appleton, Wisconsin with his wife and now speaks out publiclly to try and share the messege that you shouldn't hate.

Hostels- an inexpensive, supervised lodging place for young people on bicycle trips, hikes, etc
Sweatshop- a shop employing workers at low wages, for long hours, and under poor conditions
Bigotry- stubborn and complete intolerance of any creed, belief, or opinion that differs from one's own
Animosities- a feeling of strong dislike, ill will, or enmity that tends to display itself in



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